Craptacular Thanksgiving on Adelphi Street
We were already on our way out of town on Wednesday when we received this disturbing email from a Fort Greene resident: I am a tenant of a brownstone at 370 Adelphi Street between Lafayette and Greene. For the last few weeks the hallway has smelt toxic. After investigating where it was coming from we…
We were already on our way out of town on Wednesday when we received this disturbing email from a Fort Greene resident:
I am a tenant of a brownstone at 370 Adelphi Street between Lafayette and Greene. For the last few weeks the hallway has smelt toxic. After investigating where it was coming from we found 6 inches of raw sewage piling up in the basement from a leak in the pipes. The landlords never pick up the calls we make to them and refuse to hire professionals to fix anything. So the tenants arranged for a professional to come take care of this problem. The landlords came over and put a stop to it, because they knew we would submit the bill in lieu of our rent. Instead, the landlords spread tons of bleach over all the sewage and let it sit overnight. The next day, today, at around 3pm – 5pm, the landlords were somehow pumping the toxic-smelling waste out DIRECTLY onto the street. There were many witnesses to this incident – various residents of the block came over and expressed their concern to my landlord who shoo’ed them away. The waste is now on the sidewalk and the curblane. In fact there is a large pile of waste at the drain at the end of the block, at Greene Avenue. The block, which is residential and full of families, smells toxic. Our apartment still smells toxic as well. I am nervous for anyone who lives on the block, as well as all the school children who come through in waves to get to and from school.
We heard again from the tenant over the weekend, who says that the EPA showed up and fined the landlords, despite their denying having dumped the waste. And as of this morning, the waste was still in the gutter, though the street cleaners come today at 11:30 a.m.
100 years ago most babies born in urban areas died before their fifth birthday, cities like New York were dependent upon migration from rural areas (both from the USA and abroad) to sustain their population. Effective sewerage systems, clean water, vaccinations and antibiotics have changed that.
We don’t have much tolerance for canine feces littering the street, I’m certainly not going to tolerate human feces. I think that the city should require the landlord to fix the pipes, or send in plumbers to do the job and bill the landlord.
I have to give props to the EPA – they were on-site within 24 hours. You should have seen the number of people on the block falling over themselves to talk to the EPA inspector.
The guys who did the street dumping were just sitting around outside the house having lunch, amidst the stink, pretending it didn’t smell.
They were smart enough to clean off a part of the curblane so there wasn’t a clear rivulet of sewage from the dump point to the rest of the stream rolling downhill. The EPA guy was concerned about this for a while, saying the case wasn’t open-and-shut unless he could photograph a continuous thread from outside the house. I guess he found enough neighbors willing to testify.
No use in crying over a little spilled milk, that’s what the good doctor always says. Sounds like the tenants had a beef, and before they allowed landlord to remedy the situation, the bitter renters escalated the situation by taking matters into their own hands. I think the renters should have been forced to clean this mess up as punishment for their outlandish behavior. The doctor’s sympathies are with the landlord, as always.
Your landlord probably doesn’t have the money to fix the problem which is most likely a broken sewer line. This can run up to him 10,000- 15,000 to fix
That is really disgusting. So, were they never going to fix the pipes, but just keep pumping sewage out to the street? Gross.
this is gross. but for a little bit of perspective, remember that 100 years ago, the streets were lined with piles of horse crap taller than your head. brownstones were built with stoops to rise above the poops!
I hope that fine was HUGE. Really HUGE. How gross and irresponsible.
How much was the EPA fine???
The problem with getting the government involved is there may be a risk they condemn the building and make everyone move out for this sort of thing.
gack, holy post mist! that sounds terrible.
*rob*